


Warmth Within

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [71]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: 201 AG, F/F, Fluff, Korrasami Week 2017, Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 01:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12159294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: Asami yawned, resting her head on Korra's shoulder. They'd had a long hike this morning, but it wasn't particularly strenuous, and they hadn't gotten up too early. “Healing time?” Korra asked.Without opening her eyes, Asami nodded. Korra smiled, and guided her inside.





	Warmth Within

The sun was dipping toward the horizon as the ferry made its way toward the Fire Nation capital. They stood against the rail, two anonymous women, holding hands letting the world move without them for a while. Well, mostly-anonymous—one teenager  _had_ guessed who they were, but his mother scoffed at the possibility. Just a couple of tourists in Fire Nation garb, don't stare. 

Asami yawned, resting her head on Korra's shoulder. They'd had a long hike this morning, but it wasn't particularly strenuous, and they hadn't gotten up too early. “Healing time?” Korra asked. 

Without opening her eyes, Asami nodded. Korra smiled, and guided her inside. 

The ferry didn't have any particularly private areas, but it wasn't crowded. They found a bench, and Asami lay herself flat with a little too much ease, one arm flopping to the floor in what Korra knew was an exaggeration. She snorted. “You're not really tired, you just want an excuse for me to touch you.” 

“Maybe both,” Asami said, curling her arms together to rest her head in. 

Korra cracked her knuckles, and knelt beside the bench. The healing worked best with a lot of skin contact, but thankfully, their vacation outfits revealed quite a bit of it. Not as smooth and flawless as it had been—a few more scars than years gone by, some stretch marks, cellulite... 

Still beautiful. 

Korra warmed up her hands, tapping into her firebending for heat but not flames, and gently felt along Asami's back, probing into her chi pathways. As a bender, much less as the Avatar, Korra had a deeper well of spiritual energy to draw upon. And Asami... 

Twenty six years ago, Asami had nearly died to save Korra's life. Korra had saved her in turn, and they'd both lived every day for each other ever since, but it had not been without a price. Asami's spirit was... damaged. Thin. And for a woman as indomitable as her, who refused to be cowed and bowed to nobody, she tapped herself out very fast. For a long time, she slept a lot. Most of the day, even. She hadn't complained, she'd accepted what had happened as a fair price for Korra's life. And that was that. Waterbenders could heal the body, but they could not heal the spirit, after all. What else could be done? 

Korra felt the warmth within Asami, the life force beating in rhythm with her heart, echoing through all the chi pathways in her wife's still form. She was... far more relaxed than Korra had seen her in years. Usually she had to work some massage into this, get her relaxed first, but truly, this was just her spiritual deficit coming into play. 

And unlike the first decade or so after their brush with death, now Korra knew what to do. 

Warmth flowed through her fingers, through Asami's skin. Pulses, in the same rhythm as Asami's spirit, a little extra pulse time with Asami's own. 'Constructive interference,' she called it. 

Korra called it a miracle. 

Their son called it fire-healing. Not the most interesting name, but he invented it. That gave him naming rights.   


“Remind me to tell Zinni how proud I am,” Asami said, like she did nearly every she received the bending therapy she'd inspired. 

“I will,” Korra promised, though truly, they both knew Zin tired of the praise pretty quickly. “We're in the neighborhood. I assume we're gonna stop by and visit?” 

Asami nodded into her arms. 

“You know,” Korra said, adding a little massage to the therapy, just as a bonus more than out of Asami truly needing it—and because she DID like touching her wife, “and don't take this wrong, but as much as you accepted what happened after Ba Sing Se, I'm a little surprised how hard this whole menopause thing has hit you.”

Asami groaned at the word. “That was my choice, because I love you. This is just... obnoxious biology.”

Korra snickered. “Okay. I guess that makes sense. And everything you've been feeling is totally fair to feel, too. I've just seen you roll with bigger punches, is all. Want to make sure we're not missing part of it.” She leaned over and kissed Asami between her shoulder blades. “I know you can hold on to things pretty tight, too.” 

Asami unraveled one arm, reaching around to touch Korra as best she could, given the poor angle. “You would know. I don't hold onto anything tighter than I do you.”

She hadn't intended to kiss Asami again, but that couldn't go unrewarded. She kissed the back of her neck, then paused the treatment to rest her head on Asami's back, listening to her breathe. Not for any medical or spiritual reason. She just loved the sound of it. 

Korra got an earful, then, of Asami's sigh. “I just... I'm not going to be able to roll with the punches anymore. Not like I used to. It was bad enough when we got the kids and I couldn't go on all your missions anymore, but now? This? It feels like they've barely grown up, and we can travel and fight together again, but for how much longer? I know I'll always be your wife, Korra, but I'm afraid... I'm afraid of how much longer I can really be your  _partner_ .”

Korra took a breath, the healing forgotten but the touch of skin to skin maintained. “Are you still sleepy?” 

Asami shrugged. 

Korra nudged her shoulder. “Roll over. Make room for me.”

Asami's snicker was still among her favorite Asami sounds. Korra got off her knees, groaning a little—among her least favorite Korra sounds—and lay inside Asami's arms, barely balanced on the edge of the bench. 

It was enough, though—she took Asami's free hand, and set it against her own heart. 

Asami made that happy noise in her throat, another favorite. “We  _are_ always together, aren't we?” 

“Did you need a reminder?” 

“Now and then,” Asami admitted. “It is hard to believe, how lucky I am. To have you.” 

“To have us,” Korra said, relaxing into her wife's embrace. “And we will, for a long while longer. Right?” 

Asami squeezed her. “Absolutely.”

“Cranky old women together? Shaking our canes at damned fool grandkids for doing the same dumbass things we did?” 

Laughter. “That does sound like something to look forward to.” 

The resonance of her voice tipped Korra off. Asami was drifting. But there, wrapped in her arms, Asami really starting to get a sense of herself again... 

Korra should have gotten off the bench and finished charging Asami's chi back up. But today, right now... 

Right now felt like just the time to fall asleep in her arms. The sun may be setting outside but for them... 

For them, sunset was still a long, long time away. 

 


End file.
